It has become common for all different types of organizations to develop individualized application programs known as applets (or “apps”) for use on computing devices. The applets enable the user to obtain information about, and/or interact with, the organization in a variety of different ways. For instance, the user may manage a bank account, reserve a room at a hotel, order a product for purchase, obtain reviews about an event or establishment, etc.
One mechanism for the organizations to offer their applets to users is to advertise the applets on the organization's own website, and possibly the websites of other entities. Typically, the advertisements appear on web pages and include a link that can be selected by the user to initiate the purchase and/or download of the desired applet. When the user selects the link, it causes the browser executing on the computing device to retrieve a page associated with the site from which the applet can be obtained. For instance, this site may be an online applet store that provides applets suitable for use with the operating system of the user's device.
This type of transaction is not specific to the purchase of applets, or other forms of digital media. Rather, it is commonly employed with any type of product that can be viewed and/or purchased via a reference in a web page.